The “sweet spot” concept has long been recognized by club designers and by golfers. It is commonly marked as a circle near the center of the face. Squares or other marks are also common. This is generally considered as the spot to hit for maximum distance. A common observation in golf has been “the best feel is no feel” meaning that if there is little or no perceptible feeling of the grip twisting at the time of impact, one has hit on the sweet spot, resulting in maximum distance of the shot.
In a more detailed study, our research has shown that there is one location for a hit for maximum distance (“maximum distance spot” or MD) and another (“best-feel spot” or BF) that is generally a fraction of an inch away. BF is the location of impact for no momentary change of rotation speed of the grip nominally around the long axis of the shaft together with best distance for that condition of no change of rotational feel at the grip. The difference of distance of a shot from each of these locations is approximately 1 to 3 yards, depending on club head design, head speed at impact, and other factors. It is believed that golfers would like to know where they should try to center the impact for each case, and an indication of each of these two points is desirable. It was found that the distance of a golf shot is always less when hit at BF as compared with a hit at MD.